Passport scam case: Moga court sentences three cops to 3-year rigorous imprisonment
Following the pronouncement of the judgment, the police officials were taken into the custody and sent to Faridkot Central Jail
In a 17-year-old passport scam case, a Moga court on Monday upheld the verdict of the lower court and sentenced three police officials to three-year rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 31,500 each.
Following the pronouncement of the judgment, the police officials were taken into the custody and sent to the Faridkot Central Jail.
On July 13, 2008, an FIR was registered against travel agents, police personnel, post office employees and clerks from the passport office. Nearly six years after the FIR, charges were framed against 90 accused on September 6, 2014.
In October 2015, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the district court to dispose of passport scam case within a year. However, the trial took more than two more years to conclude.
On February 21, 2018, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate convicted 25 accused, including three police officials, sentencing them to three years’ imprisonment and imposing a fine of Rs 11,000 each. Later, the convicts were granted bail on personal bonds of Rs 20,000 each.
Probe revealed that the accused had facilitated the issuance of more than 200 passports on a single address at Duneke village, over 100 on a fake address on Gandhi Road and another 100 on an address on FCI Road in Moga. A total of 825 government witnesses were cited in the case and more than 400 appeared before the court.
The probe indicated that that a large network of fake passport issuance was operating with the connivance of officials from the Police Department, passport office, post office and travel agents. Further, look-out notices were issued against persons who went abroad on the basis of nearly 795 fake passports.
The court had also acquitted 44 accused, including 10 women.
The present appeal was filed by convicted police officials, Gurdayal Singh, Manjit Singh and Jaswinder Singh against the lower court’s verdict.
The Additional Sessions Judge dismissed their appeal and upheld the earlier judgment, awarding them three-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 31,500 each.
Further investigation revealed that between 2002 and 2008, scrutiny of 795 passport files related to the district showed that nearly 395 passports had been issued on the basis of forged documents.
In one instance, a passport was even issued in the name of a deceased person, which was allegedly used to send gangsters and drug mafia members abroad.
So far, 97 accused have been arrested in the case, including 70 individuals (15 of them women), 14 travel agency operators and six agents. At present, 91 accused are facing trial, while six have been declared proclaimed offenders.
